Mind the gap: Britain’s richest are 105 times better off than the poorest

The UK’S richest 20 percent have more than one hundred times the wealth of the poorest 20 percent, with the combined household wealth of £9.1 trillion remaining for the most part in the hands of the elite.

New analysis from Lloyds
Bank Private Banking revealed that if the combined household
wealth was evenly distributed, each family in Britain would have
an annual income of £326,414.

But in spite of a rise in household wealth of more than £216,000
in the past 10 years, the increased prosperity appears to remain
in the hands of “a growing number of older households,”
according to Markus Stadlmann, chief investment officer of Lloyds
Bank Private Banking.

The analysis shows that individuals, who own property or have
invested in pension schemes, have also seen a rise in the level
of their personal wealth.

Property has seen the greatest increase in value, with the
average house price rising by nine percent in 2014, adding £452
billion to the combined household wealth total.

As well as property, which accounts for 39 percent of total
wealth, other assets such as pension pots and life assurance have
doubled since 2004, and are now worth £5.5 trillion, or 61
percent of the UK’s total wealth.

These encouraging figures, however, don’t show the distribution
of the UK’s increasing wealth. The Equity Trust says 34 percent
of the population control the lion’s share of the £9.1 trillion,
leaving 60 percent without any positive financial assets.

They further say the current trend is creating an almost
impossible housing situation for young people, who are constantly
priced out of the market by the older generation.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a huge
disparity between the numbers of young people owning a home –
just 40 percent of 24-34 year olds – and their parents, of which
nearly 75 percent are home-owners.

Professor John Hills, director of the Centre for the Analysis of
Social Exclusion, noted that the current younger generation would
have to save £33 every day for the next 30 years in order catch
up with their parents.

“Some of that generation eventually inherit from the more
prosperous members of the older generation. But for those who
cannot look forward to that assistance, building up the kind of
wealth that many older people take for granted looks
hopeless,” he told the Independent.

“Given how much bigger the wealth gap now is compared to
annual incomes, the growing importance of who you might get help
from acts against social mobility,” he added.

Founder of the Intergenerational Foundation Ashley Seager also
said the current trend was “the largest transfer of wealth
from young to old in history.”

“It raises the question as to how the government can continue
to justify the protection of pensioner perks when they state that
£12 billion of welfare savings are still needed.”